Hide And Seek
by tiefseelaterne
Summary: He doesn't care any longer about the consequences. He doesn't know what would happen. The only thing he knows is that he won't let Tyson cross his plans.
1. Prolog

_English isn't my nature language, so I'm sorry when there are mistakes - I tried my best! _

_If you like it or not, let me know! I'm grateful for every review! _

_The story is set somewhere after "Probable Cause", just without Castle and Beckett being together by now (so suppose that "Always" never happened).  
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_Have fun!**  
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**Prolog**

Soft features. Glazed eyes. Almost calmer than last time. Like he now knows even better what he wants and how he can reach his goals.

Probably, no one would have thought of him as someone who was responsible for the end of so many lives. Not even he himself, if he had met him under other circumstances.

Castle watches him closely, examines the strained expression on his face, notices how he almost looks shy underneath it. Almost friendly. _Shy and friendly. _He of all people.

But isn't it always like this?

In the last four years at the precinct, with murder suspects in the interrogation room and people who were holding a gun to another head, Castle always wondered how normal these people looked. They were neighbours, husbands, wives, colleagues, quite often good friends and passionate lovers. People who got so badly hurt that somehow, something went wrong. First in their lives, then in their heads - and what once starts as a thought mostly results in actions. Inhuman actions, in this case.

But... Inhuman? Maybe these murders weren't even that, for something actually can't be inhuman when it takes place in a humans head.

Of course these people are exceptions to what a human mind is capable of. But there _are _exceptions, like there has to be an exception to every rule, to every normalcy. Just that Jerry Tyson is the biggest exception he ever met.

The guy was hiding for a year.

A long time in which he could organize, analyze, draw plans of the perfect murder. One that would be even more horrible, even more bizarre. Even more _great. _

He could plan how to get revenge on the guy who crossed his plans. He said he would destroy Castle. Not just kill him, but maybe his loved ones when they would try to stop him one more time.

His stomach drops at the thought of them. Of Beckett, who is somewhere at the other side of this scaffold.

A year.

A year in which you can analyze, make plans, ... in which you can wait for someone. Wait for a wall to come down without being sure you would get behind it when it finally does.

One year of wait and hope.

For revenge.

For love.

This is the moment Castle realises bitterly that he and Tyson have this one thing in common. This year of waiting. Unfortunately, he has the feeling that Tyson, as against him, wouldn't have to wait any longer to get what he wants. And if this psychopath would reach his goal in the next five minutes, in the next few seconds, then maybe Castle would never reach _his... _

At this thought, he feels this overwhelming urge to be with her, to call her name, to just... _do_ anything before maybe... somehow... something happens.

He doesn't care any longer about the consequences. He doesn't know what would happen. The only thing he knows is that he won't let Tyson cross his plans.

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_(to be continued)_

_Reviews?! :)_


	2. One

**- 1 - **

She lay there for hours now. If she had the choice, she would have stayed in bed the whole day. Better yet, the whole week. Forever.

A look at her wristwatch told her she was already too late to arrive at the precinct in time.

She dropped the watch on her nightstand. Sighed.

It frustrated her, because it wasn't her way. In all these years, she never came late on purpose, she always had this strict self-discipline, always tried to avoid mistakes and bad habits.

On mornings like this, she realized she wasn't like that anymore.

She felt not well. Like she wouldn't be able to deal with crime and murder today, or just to concentrate on anything. Sometimes she woke up from her nonexistent sleep and all she wanted was to lock the door and hide under her sheets. Without calls, without anyone who expected her to do something. To work, to solve the next damn murder case, to walk around a crime scene like it was the most normal thing in the world. To be a good detective. A partner. A friend. A daughter. To be smart and happy and strong like always. But it wasn't _always_ anymore. Maybe Kate Becketts strong times were over.

They were working on the same case for days now. Although she had the feeling that it wasn't so complex, that it should have been one of the easiest to solve, that they would have been done with it in two days instead of three times as much - she couldn't find the passion that usually drove her to think laterally. Which was necessary when you had to catch killers. Which was her fucking job.

"No one's infallible. Not even you", Castle had told her as they had left the precinct last night. With an encouraging smile and in this familiar 'never-take-me-seriously' tone when his words were exactly that.

She had been annoyed after another fruitless day with nothing but wrong suspects, dead ends, ... - and skeptical glances from Gates. Maybe her captain wondered if the best member of the staff still deserved her reputation. And maybe she had every right to think so when her "best detective" was looking every day more like a batterie running out of energy.

She'd believed she had been relatively successful in behaving normal for the last few weeks. She wanted to make sure the others weren't observing her with eagle-eyes - which she knew they would have done if she offered them an incentive to worry about her. She did her best in acting normal, just to make them feel like everything was fine. Just to make _herself_ feel like everything was fine.

Which wasn't.

And maybe her mask wasn't as unreadable as she hoped it would be. Maybe that was the reason even Castle didn't come around with new approaches for the case every two hours. As she thought about it, she found that his jokes were indeed a little intently over the last days, that he wasn't as freed as usual, didn't think spontaneously, like he maybe had other things in mind.

Maybe it was about her.

Maybe he-

Her phone rang. She closed her eyes unwillingly, stretched her neck to see the name on the display.

Him.

"Morning." Her voice was rough as she picked up, almost unstable. Maybe she could report sick for today...

"Where are you? I'm sitting beside your desk with no Beckett on it and that's definitely odd at this time! Don't tell me you went to an imposingly strangled body without telling me?!"

She had to smile as she imagined him sitting there, his fingers fumbling with something from her desk – his paperclip-chain or one of her elephant figurines. "You sound a little creepy, Castle."

"So do you... If I didn't know better, I'd say you're still in bed. But that couldn't be. Kate Beckett has never been late for work."

Her smile faded as she remembered the same words in her own head a few minutes ago. "Then maybe it's time for a change", she mumbled.

He didn't speak for a moment.

"You okay?" His voice was serious now, even a bit lowered, like he didn't want someone around him to hear.

"I... think I overslept."

"For a change."

"Yep."

"Are you sure?"

"If I overslept? Or if I'm okay?"

"Both."

"I think so." She sighed silently. "I'm on my way, okay?"

"Great."

"Will you be able to wait?"

"Only if you hurry up. When a call comes in, I'll head off to the crime scene without you."

She smirked. "Just to remind you... It's still me who get the calls."

"I know! Why do you think I'm calling?!"

"Because you're bored and you want to see a dead body, I get it. But if there isn't a murder today?"

"Then I'll entertain you while you do your paperwork."

"Oh, you're welcome to start with my paperwork while I'm heading to the precinct!"

"Um..."

"You're right. Better not." She could hear his grin.

"See ya."

He hung up.

And somehow, she felt way better as she set the first foot on the carpet.

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